On July 1, OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control ), an enforcement agency and financial intelligence agency of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, imposed sanctions on Aeza Group LLC for its involvement in assisting cybercriminal illicit activity targeting victims in the US and worldwide.
On Tuesday, OFAC stated that The Aeza Group LLC, a bulletproof hosting provider in Russia, reportedly sells access to major servers and other computer infrastructure to aid cyber criminals in stealing significant information and carrying out ransomware campaigns.
Aeza Group has offered its Bullet Proof Hosting (BPH) services to ransomware and malware units such as Meduza, Lumma, and RedLine infostealer operators. These operators utilised the BPH services to target the technology ventures and defense section of the US, among other victims internationally, the Office of Foreign Assets Control added.
Additionally, the sanctions of OFAC also involve 4 Russian nationals who are executives or owners at Aeza, various UK and Russian-based organizations, and a cryptocurrency address holding $350,000 in crypto.
According to TRM, a blockchain intelligence company offering tools for financial firms and crypto businesses, the sanctioned cryptocurrency address is an administrative wallet that handles consistent cash-out points to payment services and cryptocurrency exchanges at the international level. Moreover, it also provides a connection via intermediary addresses to other cybercrime services and the sanctioned cryptocurrency exchange Garantex, said by Chainalysis, a blockchain analytics company.
According to the Office of Foreign Assets Control, the sanctions mean that the entire assets of the US connected to Aeza Group and those linked by name are Frozen. Similarly, this is also illicit for individuals in the US to carry out any business dealings or financial transactions with them under threat of criminal and civil penalties.
OFAC sanctioned four Russian nationals who are the Aeza’s board of directors, including Arsenii Aleksandrovich Penzev- CEO and part owner, Igor Anatolyevich Knyazev -part owner, Yurii Meruzhanovich Bozoyan-general director and part owner, and Vladimir Vyacheslavovich Gast-technical director.
Global Collaboration Against Cybercriminal Networks
According to Chainalysis, the sanctions of the Office of Foreign Assets Control highlight another relevant step in targeting significant cybercrime infrastructure.
After attacks had occurred, the Russian law enforcement arrested two individuals from the Aeza’s board of directors team: Bozoyan and Penzev, due to their alleged links to the illegal dark marketplace Blacksprut. Currently, the entire business of the Aeza Group is handled by the company’s part-owner, Igor Anatolyevich Knyazev.
Despite pursuing the individual threat actors, the US government is targeting and attacking the main cause of the supply chain that makes the huge cybercrime possible, the organization said.
According to TRM Labs, by sanctioning bulletproof hosting providers, the businesses of Aeza’s group lessen the surface area of the abuse and offer significant pressure points for law enforcement to target in its current fight against cybercrime.
The sanction of OFAC on Aeza and its connected ventures provides a concise message that the United States is committed to fighting against cybercrime and securing its citizens from the cyberattacks posed by ransomware and info-stealers.
